Heating apparatus



1940- J. B BERNHARD 2210,830

HEAT ING APPARATUS Filed March 29, 1939 Patented Aug. 6, 1940 UNITEDsTA-T s HEATING ArrAnA'rUs v John B. Bernhard, Union City.- N..J.,assignor to Phoenix Steel Boiler Works, Inci, New York,

N. Y., a corporation of New York Application March 29, 1939, SerialNo.=264,732 '1 Claims. (c .'122.1ts)f The present invention relates moreparticularly to improvements in boilers for-heating water or generatingsteam for house heating.

Important objects of the invention are, to

-' provide such a boiler designed for high efficiency and inexpensivemanufacture; to provide such a boiler with improved, flue means designedfor more eficient transmission of heat from the firebox to the water inthe boiler; and'to provide such a boiler of extremely simpleconstruction.

Other objects of the invention will appear hereinafter.

In the drawing, Fig. 1 is a vertical section through the boiler, on theline I-I of Fig. 3

Fig. 2 is a vertical section through-the boiler, on the line 2-2 of Fig.1;

Fig, 3 is a horizontal section on the line 3--3 of Fig. l;

Fig. 4 is a horizontal section on of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 5 is a detail'vertical section on the line 55 of Fig. 2.

The boiler is a unitaryv structure, and includes a firebox 5 and anupright cylindrical water tank 2 formed of metal and supported upon thefirebox. The firebox has a metal dom'e'portion 3 projecting upward intothe lower portion of the water tank and surrounded .by thewater-containing space within the tank. An oil burner projects into thefirebox through a front opening 5 in the latter. ever, for use of adifferent kind of fuel. The said opening 5 is closed, around the burner,by a detachable front plate 6. The tank has a flat upper end Wall E, andthe side walls of the tank extend beyond said wall and have a metal cap8 fittedthereon to thereby define a smoke chamber 9 at the upper end ofthe tank. A metal jacket l0 encloses the firebox, the water tank and thesmoke chamber and contains heat-insulating material ii. The firebox domeis connected, through the water space of the tank, to the smoke chamberby fiues I2, and a pipe I3 the line 4-4 leads upward from the center ofthe firebox captank to conduct from the tank either hot water or steamfor room heating. A hot water return 55 pipe I! is connected to thelower end portion Provision may be made, howsupported at their upperends by the cover 26.

A pipe I6 leads from the upper end of the water I of the tank. Thereis'also connected to the lower end portion of the tank a valved coldwater supply pipe I8. Outside of "the jacket In there are a water columngauge I9 and an aquastat 20, both connected to the water-containingspace of 5 the tank. The aquastat will have the usual operativeconnections with the burner to control combustion. Said connections andthe outer portion of. the burner are here omitted in order to simplifythe illustration. In the present illustration the water tank and thepiping l6 and" a're shown -charged.with water, for hot water heating.For steam heating the water in the tank will be maintained atapproximately the level indicated by the line L in Figs. 1 and 2.Outside of the jacket In there is a steam gauge 2! connected to theupper end portion of the tank. A steam safety valve 22 is also connectedto the upper end ofthe tank.

Provision is also made in the boiler for heating water for-faucetsupply. For that purpose there are coils of water piping including ahelical outer coil 23 extending downwardly within the water tank and ahelical inner coil 24 continuous with the lower end of the coil 23 andextending upwardly within the latter. The upper end of one of said coilsis connected to cold water supply piping and the upper end of the othercoil is connected to the hot water faucets of the house. The upper wallI of the tank has an opening 25 materially offset from the center of thewall and closed by a cover disk 26 detachably secured to said wallaround the margins of said opening. Said coils are vertically arrangedand The diameter of said opening exceeds that of the larger coil so thatthe coils are insertible and removable through the opening. The coilsand cover disk form a unit for installation and removal. When the coilsare, in place they are entirely surrounded by the'Hot water in the tank,for efiicient heating of the water in the coils.

The fiues I2 are of improved design, for efficient heating of the waterin tank 2 by conduction of heat from the hot air and products ofcombustion from the firebox. They are also designed for inexpensivemanufacture. Each flue comprises a pair'of side walls 21 and 2B inspaced opposition and each formed of sheet steel or other suitablematerial of high heat conductivity. Opposite end walls 29 of the samematerial as said side walls, are welded to the adjacent longitudinaledges of the side walls and form with said side walls the flue passage30. As shown, the side walls are much wider than the end walls and the.from the centers of the opposed troughs.

flue passage defined is of elongated, rectangular form in horizontalcross section. The flues are welded at their upper and lower ends to thetop wall 1 of the tank and the top wall of the firebox domerespectively, and said walls have openings 3| and 32 registeringrespectively with the upper and lower ends of the flue passages 30. Thetlues are arranged at a horizontal angle to each other and divergetoward the coil unit to provide clearance for the latter. The flues alsodiverse upward slightly. This horizontal and vertical angularity of the,fines better distributes them.

- a tortuous form and by means of the off-center arrangement of theopposed ridges and troughs the flue passage is provided with a series ofrestricted spaces 34 alternating with expanded spaces 35.- At the upperand lower ends of each flue the walls 2'| and 23 diverge to provide theflue passage with a flared inlet and a flared outlet.

When the hot air and products of combustion enter the lower end of oneof the flue' passages 33. from the firebox they are first deflectedlaterally by an inclined surface 36 so that they strike an oppositelyinclined surface 31 forming a wall of the first of the wider spaces 35.Thereby the hot air and products of combustion are caused to swirl insaid space. the swirl being prolonged by the restricted outlet 33 fromsaidspace. This prolonged swirl is repeated in each of the series ofexpanded spaces along the flue by reason of the angular relation of therestricted inlet to each space and the chokingetfect of the restrictedoutlet from each space. Thereby the hot air and products of combustionare caused to give up a maximum amount of their heat to theheat-conducting walls of the flues. All of the flue walls are externallyexposed to the water in the tank and the surface areas of the walls 21and 23 are materially increased by the corrugated form of said walls.This increase in heating area contributes further to-the heatingefficiency. 1

In order to further increase the conduction of heat from the flues tothe water the walls 23 of each flue aremade of a uniform width to extendoutward from the outer troughs'of the corrugations and formheat-conducting fins 33 exposed to the water in the tank. 7

It will be seen that my invention provides an improved boiler-typeheater of high efllciency and simple, compact and inexpensiveconstruction. While a very satisfactory form of the boiler is disclosed,structural details thereof may be modified without departing from theinvention as deflned in the appended claims.

What I claim is:

l. A heating apparatus comprising an upright water tank, aflreboxbeneath said tank and having a dome portion protruding upwardly into thelower portion of thetank, for heating the water in the tank, and a flueextending upwardly from the top of said dome portion of the fireboxthrough the water-containing'space within the tank to conduct theproducts of combustion from the flrebox through said space for heatingthe water, and comprising opposed spaced walls of heat-conductingmaterial exposed to the water at their outer surfaces and bent alongparallel horizontal lines to form. each with a series of substantiallyV-shaped corrugations, with the corrugations of one wall in staggeredrelation to those of the opposed wall and with their internal ridgesdisplaced crosswise from the centers of the opposed interal troughs ofthe corrugations of said opposed wall, to thereby define a tortuous fluepassage alternately contracted and expanded at a series of pointstherealong, for the purpose set forth. Y

2. A heating-apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that thereare a plurality of fines constructed and arranged as defined in claim 1,each flue is of elongated form in horizontal section, and said flues arearranged at a horizontal angle to each other. 1

3. A heating apparatus comprising a water tank, a heating chamberassociated with said tank, and -a flue extending from said flreboxthrough the water-containing space within the tank, to conduct hot airthrough said space for heating the water and comprising opposed spacedwalls of heat-conducting material exposed to the water at their outersurfaces and bent along parallel lines to form each with a series ofsubstantially V-shaped corrugations with the corrugations of one wall instaggered rela-- tion to .those of the opposed wall and with theirinternal ridges displaced crosswise from the centers of the opposedinternal troughs of the corrugations of said opposed wall, to therebydefine a tortuous flue passage alternately contracted and expanded at aseries of points therealong, for the purpose set forth.

4. A heating apparatus according to claim 3, characterized in that thereare a plurality of flues constructed and arranged as defined in claim 3,each flue is of elongated form. in horizontal section, and said fiuesare arranged at a horizontal angle to 'each other and extend upwardlyand outwardly through the water-containing space, to place the lowerends,of said flue closer together than the upper ends.

5. A heating apparatus comprising a water tank, a heating chamberassociated with said tank, and an open ended flue extending from saidfirebox through the water-containing space within the tank andcomprising wide opposed spaced side walls of heat conducting materialexposed to the water at their outer surfaces and bent along parallellines to form each with a series of substantially V-shaped corrugationswith the corrugations of one wall in staggered relation to those of theopposed wall and with their internal ridges displaced crosswise from thecenters of the opposed internal troughs of the corrugations of saidopposed wall, and end walls secured to the edges of the opposed sidewalls, said end walls extending outward to the outer points of thecorrugations to close the ends of the pockets formed by the exteriorsurfaces of said corrugations and to form heat-conducting fins extendinginto the water-containing space, the said side walls and end wallsdefining a tortuous flue elongated in horizontal section and alternatelycontracted and expanded at a series of points therealong.

, 6. A heating apparatus according to claim 5,

characterized in that the side walls of the flue are disposed to form attheir lower ends an enlarged entrance for the products of combustionfrom the firebox and at their upper ends to form an enlarged outlet fromthe flue.

7. A heating apparatus comprising a water tank, a firebox associatedwith said tank, and a plurality of flues formed of heat-conductingmaterial and extending from said firebox through the water-containingspace within the tank to conduct the products of combustion from. the

firebox through said space for heating the water,

said flues being elongated'in transverse section and arranged at anangle to each other in transverse section, and a unit of coiled pipingdisposed within the tank to contain water for faucet supply to be heatedby said water in the tank, the said flues diverging toward said unit intransverse section to afford space for the unit there-

